


Neither Harm Nor Help

by magicgenetek



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Domestic, Gen, Missing Scene, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 16:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicgenetek/pseuds/magicgenetek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Virini isn't a good man, but he's as close as G'Kar meets when captured by the Centauri.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neither Harm Nor Help

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place first after 4x3, The Summoning, and then after 4x17, The Face of the Enemy.

There was a lot you got used to in Cartagia's court. The smell of blood, for example, like hot coins out of a pocket and mixing with flowers and perfume and brivari. No matter how much the servents scrubbed, the smell never left the throne room.

Virini could stay out of it so that he could help pick out Cartagia's new clothes or to prepare the decorations. He was good with numbers, unlike a great deal of the staff, and Cartagia liked what he chose. "It's beautiful," he'd say, and then he'd stain the curtains with blood or start an orgy on the carpet and Virini would sink into the background and run.

Then there were Cartagia's hangers on, half as bloody but twice as annoying. The real schemers stayed safely out of Cartagia's way, but the young lords and ambitious ladies gathered around him like moths to flame. They enjoyed the excesses he allowed.

Virini avoided them as much as he could. Cartagia used him as his messanger, so he couldn't avoid them much, but he didn't have to talk to them. The only one he talked to most of the time was Mollari, whose eyes turned as cold and hard as diamonds when Cartagia wasn't looking, and his nervous looking assistant. He overheard them talking conspiracy in the halls and directed those who would complain away from them; he wanted Cartagia gone. He was too much of a coward to dare try himself, but he could at least try not to hurt their attempt.

He wasn't looking for Mollari this time. He was looking for a few of the minor lords who had run off with the Narn. Cartagia wanted him back in something like good shape to take to Narn, and he was barely walking after the whipping. He needed to be able to walk to his death, not get carried, or 'it wouldn't look right.' Virini had no idea if the Narn was still starving himself, but more rough handling would end with everyone's heads on a platter.

Fortunately, he wasn't too hard to find. The garden was full of laughter and splashing, and Virini hurried to it.

The Narn was back in chains, hands attached to feet, and had been forced to kneel in front of one of the fountains. The nobles were taking turns forcing his head under the water, then pulling it up just long enough for him to hack water before forcing it down again.

Virini's stomach knotted. "What are you doing?!"

"Having some fun," said Lord Noroni. He let the Narn up for air; the Narn wheezed and hacked up water. "The Emperor said not to ruin it further, and it hasn't been drinking, so we thought we'd help it get some water in his system."

"The Emperor won't be happy if he drowns!" Virini snapped, half terrified, half furious. Only a Narn, certainly, but there were some standards for treating living beings. "He needs him alive."

"It might be kinder to kill him here," said Lord Taron. The Narn glanced around at the lords, at Virini, and then braced against the fountain. "I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?" He kicked the Narn in the stomach; the Narn bit back a pained yelp. "Will you beg us to kill you?"

"The Emperor wants to see you," Virini said. "Now." Which was true enough. Cartagia would ask them where the Narn was, would send his guards to the garden, it would get them out of his hair. Away from the pathetic creature wipind water away from his mouth.

"Fine," said Lord Noroni. "Let's go."

In moments, the garden was empty except for Virini and the Narn.

The Narn turned around so that his back was to the fountain, his front to Virini, the chains forcing his knees to his chest. There was still water dripping down his face. He looked up at him hazily; then, like a magnifier focusing properly, his gaze turned into a glare.

Virini didn't flinch. He had taken far worse.

They stood there like that before Virini realized that the Narn was his responsibility now. The Narn was waiting for Virini to hurt him.

Virini looked around. No one else was there. He gestured as if to say, 'go away.'

The Narn looked around suspiciously, then glared back at Virini. Virini gestured him away again. He didn't want to hurt him. He didn't want anything to do with the Narn's slow death at the hands of the entire court. He couldn't do anything to help or he'd die, but he could avoid hurting the Narn instead.

The Narn relaxed slowly. He carefully sat up and turned around, hunched over the fountain. His loose shirt hiked up over his back, exposing livid red scabs like some great beast's claw marks.

There was splashing. Virini's eyes widened. THe Narn was drinking from the fountain.

The Narn drank until the sound of Cartagia's entourage floated in. He then sat back heavily on the grass, gasping for breath. He looked up at Virini again, wary, and rocked his head toward the noise to indicate it.

Virini shook his head. He didn't want anything to do with this. He wasn't going to hurt anybody.

The Narn rolled his eyes and lay down on his side in front of Virini, clutching at his stomach. That was how Cartagia found them.

"I see you sent them away so you could play with him!" Cartagia said, and patted Virini on the back. Virini did not flinch. "I hope it's not bad enough that he can't walk."

Oh, thought Virini, that's why. He nodded quickly, and the Narn's face flickered with a smile before two guards forced him to his feet. He wavered where he stood, but he stood.

"Good, good," Cartagia said. "I was afraid you were boring but I guess you're not that boring."

"Of course, sir," Virini said.

Cartagia hummed and petted the Narn's face. "Perhaps Noroni had an idea. Almost drowning might be good for him. I keep on seeing him all bloody, but he's very pretty like this. You can see all the spots."

The Narn glared at Cartagia. Cartagia tutted and slapped the Narn hard enough that his face was knocked to the side. Virini stepped away.

"Go talk to the people on Narn about what the courtroom will look like. I want a report by 8 tonight," Cartagia said as he pulled the Narn back up to look at him. Blood from the Narn's mouth speckled Cartagia's white gloves.

"Of course," Virini said, and he ran.

 

* * *

 

 “I made Virini regent,” Mollari said.

G’Kar took the pen out of his mouth and scratched down some notes from the Llort ambassador’s requirements for the new alliance. “Did you?”

“I thought he’d be the least troublesome of the survivors of the court. The common people like him; he doesn’t have many enemies; he has political pull because everyone owes him a favor and he won’t spend everything on drink. Pass me the memo from the Drazi.”

G’Kar passed it. Mollari harrumphed and started scribbling on his notepaper. G’Kar said, “I think he’s the least harmful choice.”

Mollari looked up. “Least harmful? Not the best?”

“Not the best,” G’Kar said. “He may not do anything to make things worse, but that’s not the same as improving things. Still better than the rest of your court.”

Mollari grimaced. “How negative you are,” he said, and only a little of the regret shone through.

G’Kar underlined an important phrase about trade. “He’s the only one I met who didn’t join in the torture. He didn’t actively try to help me, but he didn’t try to hurt me either. That’s a start.”

“I’m always shocked at how easily you talk about weeks of torture, as if they were only a minor inconvenience,” Mollari said.

“I’m used to the warm welcomes your people give me,” G’Kar replied. He leaned against Mollari’s shoulder. “It’s a start. You improved from a worse point. I think that he is as capable of change as you are.”

“Just as long as he doesn’t change where I’m stationed,” Mollari said, and G’Kar laughed.


End file.
